Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Say to the
nations far and wide: “Get ready for
war! Call out your best warriors. Let all your fighting men advance for the
attack. Hammer your
plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors. Come quickly, all you nations
everywhere. Gather together in the
valley.” And now, O Lord, call out
your warriors! “Let the nations be
called to arms. Let them march to the
valley of Jehoshaphat. There I,
the Lord, will sit to pronounce judgment on them all. Swing the sickle, for the harvest is
ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the
winepress is full.
Joel
3:9-13a(NLT)
This prophecy
of Joel serves as a constant reminder for me that the events which take place
in our world are all supervised by an omnipotent and sovereign God.
The tenor of
Joel speaking for God would get him a 15-yard penalty in a football game for
taunting the opponent. “C’mon, give me
your best shot; is that all you got?”
God is challenging all the kings and rulers of the earth to gather all
their resources, armies, weapons, and every ounce of human strength they
possess to bring it for the day of battle.
And in the
middle of this invitation to come fight against the LORD, JHWH pauses and
declares that what will happen won’t be a fair fight. He will simply sit in the middle of it all and
pronounce judgment on the whole lot…the harvest will be instantaneous, the
sickle of judgment will fall and squeeze the grapes of wrath for all they’re
worth!
It won’t be a
battle; it will be a massacre – all JHWH’s proud and defiant enemies will fall
like a dandelion flattened by an atomic bomb!
The questions
always immediately follow; when, where, how, what, why…and the Bible has plenty
of clues for all that.
But, for me,
the meaning of it all isn’t wrapped up in those questions or timelines or
geography lessons. For me it is that
calm assurance that God has this in His hands.
Ultimately, no matter who is president, whether the Democrats or
Republicans control the House, or if the Cubs ever win another World Series,
God has this.
And it is
settled!
For You Today
Can you go
about your business today with that calm assurance? Can you trust Him today?
NOTES
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